In an e360 video, Ryan Killackey travels to Yasuni National Park, where scientists are inventorying a stunning array of wildlife and plants.WATCH THE VIDEO

as a proposal to protect the park with the help of international donations fell apart. In a nationally televised speech, President Rafael Correa blamed the failure of the ambitious conservation plan on a lack of funds, saying that a UN-administered trust fund had raised only $13 million of the $3.6 billion target. “I have signed the executive decree for the liquidation of the Yasuni-ITT trust fund and with this, ended the initiative,” said Correa. Located in eastern Ecuador, where the Amazon basin ascends into the Andes, Yasuni is home to an unprecedented number of animal and plant species. According to a 2010 study, one section of the park held at least 200 species of mammals, 247 amphibian and reptile species, and 550 species of birds. But the Yasuni park also sits atop an estimated 1 billion barrels of oil. Correa had said that Ecuador would forego income from oil drilling and protect the park if foreign donors would contribute billions of dollars to compensate the country for the loss of oil revenue.

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Photographer Robert Wintner documents the exquisite beauty and biodiversity of Cuba’s coral reefs, which are largely intact thanks to stifled coastal development in the communist nation. View the gallery.

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e360 VIDEO

The Warriors of Qiugang, a Yale Environment 360 video, chronicles a Chinese village’s fight against a polluting chemical plant. It was nominated for a 2011 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.
Watch the video.